July
by Sweet Lu
Summary: Deeks goes undercover as a homeless man to investigate a new drug dealer and is surprised by what he discovers about the man.


**July**

The first time he made contact with the suspect he had been laughing at something Pogo had said. Pogo was very funny for someone who was completely out of his mind, but he was the perfect homeless guy to hang out with because everybody would watch Pogo instead of him. Deeks had been undercover as a homeless man for three weeks, and this was the first time he had even seen the suspect, let alone actually spoken with him. Not that what passed between them would help with the investigation, but it was a start.

The suspect was Rafael Dominguez, one of the largest drug dealers in LA. He was a new face on the scene, having taken over Vargas's operation after he had been killed and who had immediately taken his operation citywide. No one knew much about him, or why he had the wherewithal to set up such a large operation so quickly, which was the reason LAPD had him undercover here. He wasn't the primary undercover, but one of three who were gathering information on this guy. Deeks thought he looked like that actor who had played Tony in the TV series "24", but older. He was a handsome man, and a very sharp dresser, but not flashy at all. Like the actor, there was a hint of callousness in his eyes, so it surprised Deeks, when this first encounter with him was a pleasant one.

Pogo tended to shout a lot when he told stories, and was never very steady on his feet, even when he wasn't laughing at his own jokes. So Deeks was trying to help him up from the ground after he had gotten tangled in his own feet while shouting out one of his hilarious stories, when they both tumbled into Dominguez as he came out of the warehouse LAPD suspected was his base of operations. Pogo stopped shouting immediately and became almost catatonic as soon as he felt Dominguez touch him.

The drug dealer was actually trying to help Deeks get Pogo on his feet, but it was difficult, since Pogo wasn't helping. Finally they managed to drag him over next to the wall of the building and he sat there staring into space and rocking back and forth. Deeks patted him gently on the shoulder, before standing up and noticing that Dominguez was staring at him. Not good, he thought to himself, but he went with it.

"Thanks, dude," he said, mumbling softly in a goofy sort of way. Then he gave Dominguez the widest grin he could and turned to leave.

"What's your name?" Dominguez asked him in a pleasant voice.

"July," he answered softly and dropped his eyes to the sidewalk as he fiddled with the zipper on his jacket, and then looked up to see a small smile on the man's face.

"Is that your real name?" he asked curiously.

"I like "July" better." he answered with another huge grin.

"How long have you been homeless July?" Dominguez asked him as he pulled a wad of bills from his pocket.

"I don't remember, but it was after I won my first big court case," he said with his goofy grin widening.

"You were an attorney?" he said with a doubtful look on his face.

"I think so," he replied, getting a confused look on his face and then muttering softly to himself as he stared at the zipper on his filthy jacket again. He snuck a look at Dominguez and saw the small, unbelieving smile on his face as he laughed sadly. Then he took Deeks' hand and opened it, putting twenty dollars in small bills in it. The money surprised him, but he was more surprised that the man had actually touched him.

When he was undercover as a homeless guy he made sure he smelled like a homeless guy, and most people gave him a wide berth. But this dangerous drug dealer, had not only spoken kindly to "July", but had physically made contact, which was rare. Most people wouldn't even look at a homeless person, let alone touch one like he was a real human being. It confused Deeks. Who was this guy, he wondered. He kind of liked him, which wasn't necessarily a good thing, but it might prove to be the way to learn more about him.

Deeks thanked Dominguez a bunch of times for the money, nodding his head with the biggest, goofiest grin he could manage plastered on his face, and backing away as he watched the man get into a black SUV surrounded by deadly looking bodyguards. He thought he might be able to establish a pattern by showing up at the same time everyday and interacting with the drug dealer. If it worked, and the man continued to talk to him, it could be a way to find out some personal information about him that might come in useful down the line. As the SUV drove off, Deeks went back and pulled Pogo to his feet and gave him half the money Dominguez had given him, and that caused Pogo to begin a new story, told again at the top of his lungs. Deeks thought he better leave Pogo back at the shelter next time.

...

The second time he ran into Dominguez, it wasn't an accident. It was raining and he had purposefully sat down right outside the entrance to the warehouse where he had met him the last time. He tried to look as pathetic as possible, which wasn't hard, since he was now soaking wet. He had been there about an hour, when the black SUV finally pulled up and a bodyguard got out with an umbrella, followed by Dominguez. He was wearing a beautiful raincoat that Deeks wished he had right now, as he started to shiver in the cold rain. As Dominguez passed by, Deeks looked up at him with his big goofy grin and said hello, and he stopped.

"July, what are you doing sitting out here in the rain?" he asked curiously, with a hint of suspicion in his eyes, and Deeks knew he had to be careful with his answer.

"I'm waiting for my ride downtown," he said smiling.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To my office." he said, craning his neck out around him to look down the street.

"What kind of office?" Dominguez asked curiously, smiling now, and acting as if he had all the time in the world.

"My music producer office," he said as he stood up and walked to the curb, looking down the street as he shaded his eyes from the rain. When he turned back, the bodyguard with the umbrella was standing next to him, while Dominguez stood laughing in the rain. Then he motioned him inside and the bodyguard took his arm and Deeks followed the drug dealer into the warehouse.

"So, you're a music producer?" Dominguez asked as he shed the raincoat and accepted a towel to dry his face and hair, handing it nonchalantly to July when he was finished. Again, Deeks was surprised by the seemingly inherent kindness of the man.

July nodded vigorously and grinned while he dried his face.

"What kind of music do you produce?" Dominguez asked as he handed July a cup of coffee. The aroma was so rich Deeks thought he had died and gone to heaven. The stuff they called coffee at the shelter was like drinking piss, compared to what Dominguez had just handed him.

"I produced Lady Gaga's last CD." his grin going as wide as possible as he watched Dominguez and his bodyguard almost double over with laughter. He thought he should look offended by that, so he suddenly shut off his grin and began backing away from them. Then he turned and ran out into the rain. As he stood at the curb, coffee cup in hand, the bodyguard was suddenly beside him, taking his arm and leading him back inside. He took him over to a small sofa next to the coffee, sat him down and told him to stay, like he was a dog, but July didn't complain.

"Boss says you can wait here for your ride downtown." Then he sniggered and walked off shaking his head. Deeks smiled quietly and got up to pour himself more coffee. He could hear everything Dominguez was saying to his men and he closed his eyes and paid attention.

...

The pattern had been established. "July" came by the warehouse every day to wait by the curb for his ride downtown. And every day Dominguez would ask him where he was going and every day he would give him a different answer, each time getting more inventive and outrageous with his job description. He thought Dominguez was beginning to look forward to seeing him and hearing his latest invention. Deeks was use to being the comic relief, and now it was beginning to pay off. Even the bodyguards were being nicer to him, not much, but a little. They were all getting use to him being around, most of the time forgetting he was even there, and Deeks began to hear important information about their drug operation.

He had just poured himself a third cup of coffee, when he thought he heard Dominguez mention Camp Pendleton. He immediately sat down and closed his eyes. It helped him listen better, and this was the first indication that the scope of the drug dealer's operation might be bigger than LAPD thought. As he heard more details, he knew he would need to contact his case officer and NCIS. Hetty would want to know that serving Marines were involved in a major drug operation.

"Time to go back to the shelter, July," Dominguez said as he stopped in front of Deeks, taking the coffee cup from his hand. He thought July was sleeping, and so Deeks jumped and looked around with a confused look on his face before glancing up at Dominguez and giving him his best goofy smile.

"Did my ride show up today?" he asked hopefully.

"Not today, July, but maybe tomorrow." Dominguez helped him to his feet, and he shuffled out the door with him and then walked slowly towards the shelter with his head down. When he heard the SUV drive off, he started moving faster, heading for an alley around the corner. He had stashed his cell phone behind a loose brick next to a dumpster and he hid there until it was dark and he was sure no one was around. He quickly called Mitchell, his case officer, and arranged to be arrested for vagrancy the next morning so he could share his intel and then told him he was going to call NCIS. Mitchell wasn't happy about that but they both knew NCIS would have jurisdiction if serving Marines were in the mix.

"Lange" she answered, and he realized how much he had missed talking with her over the last couple of months.

"It's Deeks, Hetty," he said, keeping his voice low.

"Are you all right, Mr. Deeks?" she asked, concern in her voice.

"I'm good," he answered. It felt comforting to have someone asked after his well being other than a drug dealer. Then he told her what was going on and she told him the team would meet with him at LAPD after he was arrested in the morning.

"Be careful, Mr. Deeks," she said before hanging up and he knew she was right.

...

A large group of homeless men were rousted out the next day just as Dominguez arrived in his SUV. Deeks wanted to make sure he saw him get arrested, so he ran towards him with one of the cops giving chase. Unfortunately, the cop didn't know he was undercover, and promptly grabbed him and threw him against a wall, causing Deeks to see some stars and Dominguez to see his favorite homeless guy fall to his knees with blood trickling down his face. The cop shoved him back with others and he was soon on his way to his debrief.

He was pushed into an interrogation room and greeted with smiles from Callen and Sam. Kensi immediately saw the blood on his face and came towards him to see how badly he was hurt, until she got a whiff of him and his "homeless" clothes.

"Oh my God, Deeks, I forgot how bad you smelled when you were in that get-up," she said as she stopped and wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, Deeks, you sit on that side of the room and we'll sit way over here," Callen smiled, as Mitchell came in.

"I prefer to debrief him over the phone," Mitchell told them and they all had a good laugh at Deeks' expense.

Deeks quickly laid out the information about the upcoming drug deal and gave them the names of a couple of the Marines involved. He let them know how easily he could now move around the warehouse and listen in when Dominguez held strategy sessions. He just wasn't sure how long that would last, once final planning began with the Marines.

"Neither one of these Marines is the head guy. Dominguez didn't say his name, but I do know he recently got back from Afghanistan, and was in the same unit as the two I mentioned." Deeks suddenly felt the room spin and quickly sat down.

"You okay, Deeks?" Sam asked rising to his feet.

"I'm good," he said smiling, "I hit that wall a little harder than I wanted to, plus I haven't had much to eat in the last couple of days."

"You should have that cut stitched up," Kensi said, looking worried.

"No, that would look suspicious," Deeks replied. "He saw me get knocked around and arrested so I'll just work it into my character." Then he stood up and said his goodbyes and was dumped back at the shelter with the other homeless guys.

...

The next day, Deeks was back in his spot by the warehouse when Dominguez showed up. As he tried to stand up to say hello, his head began to spin and he stumbled back against the wall and sat down hard. Dominguez immediately yelled to his bodyguard and the two of them helped him up and into the warehouse. They sat him down on the couch and Dominguez had a chair brought over and he sat down and closely examined the cut over July's eye. He made no mention of how bad he smelled as Kensi and the others had done, and Deeks realized he had never once recoiled from him in disgust since he had met him.

"That cop threw you against that wall pretty hard," Dominguez said to him kindly. "Does your head hurt?"

"Yeah, I could hardly sleep last night," July answered, whimpering a little as Dominguez cleaned the crusted blood from over his eye. Deeks was amazed at what the man was doing. His reputation made him out to be a heartless, tough and violent man, but Deeks had experienced just the opposite, and he was playing the part of one of the lowest members of society. There had to be some explanation.

"Why are you so nice to me," July asked quietly as Dominguez applied a large band-aid over the cut.

"Hasn't anyone ever been nice to you before?" he asked in return.

"No," July whispered, "not for a long time."

"People can be cruel for no reason when they don't understand." he said putting his hand on July's shoulder.

"Understand what?" July asked, his face furrowing in confusion.

"That we are all just one bit of bad fortune away from being just like you." Dominguez told him softly with a sad smile, and then stood and walked away.

...

It was another two weeks before Deeks heard what they had all been waiting for. The Marines involved in the impending drug deal, were coming to meet with Dominguez that night. He managed to alert Mitchell and then he called Hetty.

"Mr. Deeks, we have a problem." she said straight away. "We have lost contact with Kensi, Sam and Mr. Callen. They've had the two Marines you identified under surveillance for the last couple of days and then this afternoon their phones were shut off and their vehicle was found outside a house in the valley."

"Shit!" Deeks reacted angrily, knowing there was nothing he could do. "Do you think they're still alive?" he asked, the fear obvious in his voice.

"I don't know, Mr. Deeks," she said slowly. "Let's hope that after we bring down your drug dealer tonight and the Marines involved, one of them will tell us what happened to them. I have no way to track them, Mr. Deeks." He knew she was as devastated as he was.

...

Six Marines drove into the warehouse in two vans. Sergeant Mark Custer boldly stepped out of the lead van and walked up to Rafael Dominguez and shook his hand, as he looked him up and down. He was a striking young man wearing jeans and a crisp white shirt. Dominguez had a slight, but guarded smile on his lips, as he carefully watched the rest of the Marines exit the vehicles. They all wore jeans and sweatshirts and looked young and vibrant, and over confident. He was surprised, however, when they pulled three other people out of the last van. One was a very beautiful woman, with black hair, who seemed dazed and had trouble standing. The black man looked extremely angry and bleeding from the head. He tried to help the woman, but the Marines knocked them both to the floor. The last man pulled from the van was bleeding from a gunshot wound in the leg. He was dropped to the floor next to the black man.

"Who are these people Mr. Custer?" Dominguez questioned.

"That's Sergeant Custer," the Marine said arrogantly, standing taller as he spoke.

"I asked you a question, Sergeant," Dominguez let his voice go flat and cold as he stared down the man in front of him.

"These are NCIS agents we surprised this afternoon," he replied loudly and letting a small laugh escape at the end. "Of course, we had a little inside information that they were tailing us, but we took 'em down."

"And why did you bring them here, Mr. Custer?" Dominguez asked as he walked over to the young woman and helped her stand. He was leading her to the couch when one of the Marines tried to stop him, grabbing his arm. Dominguez stopped and apologized to the young woman as he stepped in front of her and hit the man in the face. Before the Marine could respond, he was flanked by two of the drug dealer's bodyguards, each holding a gun to his side. He stepped back and Dominguez helped the woman to the couch.

"May I ask your name?" he asked softly as he handed her a bottle of water.

"Kensi." she replied as she accepted the water.

"Mr. Custer, you haven't answered my question." He turned to face the sergeant. The others had pulled the two NCIS agents to their feet and now had guns out, covering them.

"We thought it might be a nice gesture if you took care of them for us." Custer replied. "You know, we kill them, and you dispose of them for us. Kind of like a sign of mutual trust."

Dominguez stared at the Marine. Then the sergeant looked at the door and Dominguez saw July shuffle into the warehouse, his face covered in his signature grin as he headed for the coffee.

"Hey, dumb ass," Custer shouted at him, grabbing his arm and shoving him back toward the door. "Get your butt out'a here."

"Don't touch him," Dominguez warned him coldly. "He's a friend of mine and he's just coming to have a coffee." He motioned to July to come in and the big grin returned to his face as he looked at the Marine and then spit on the floor in front of him. It made Dominguez laugh lightly, but the sergeant was livid with anger.

As July walked towards the coffee, he seemed to just notice the woman on the couch and looked at Dominguez with an even bigger smile on his face and then he got a bashful look on his face as he asked, "Can I talk to your lady friend?" The smile, now tentative, but hopeful.

"Of course," Dominguez said, smiling back at July. He saw the homeless man bend over the woman and saw her recoil at the smell, but she put a smile on her face as he talked with her barely above a whisper.

The Marine started to say something, but Dominguez held up his hand to silence him as he watched July make two coffees and then turn and walk toward the two men being held by the Marines.

"Can I give them two a coffee?" he stopped to ask Dominguez, "They look like they could use a good cup of hot coffee." Again his smile was tentative as he waited for permission, and when he got it, the grin lit up his face and he hurried to give them each their coffee.

"Who the hell is this clown?" Custer asked, getting more exasperated by the second, as he watched the filthy homeless man take over the room.

Dominguez ignored him as he motioned July to come and stand by him. The homeless man gave Custer a dirty look and then grinned as he heard Dominguez laugh. July walked past Dominguez and then looked quickly at the woman. Suddenly she raised a gun and fired at the two Marines closest to her killing one and wounding the other. Simultaneously, the two NCIS agent threw hot coffee into the faces of their guards and grabbed their guns. The wounded agent killed his guard, as the black man forced his guard's gun into the man's stomach and fired.

Dominguez was stunned as he watched one of his own bodyguard's kill the other one and shoot the last Marine, while yelling LAPD. Custer, who was unhurt, charged toward Dominguez with his gun drawn. The drug dealer, who was unarmed, put up his hands and stepped back, bumping into July, who shocked him by stepping in front of him with a gun in his hand. July fired calmly at the charging Marine, who fell dead at his feet.

July turned and looked at Dominguez and said, "LAPD."

Dominguez slapped him across the face.

"I guess I deserved that," Deeks said as cops and agents flooded the warehouse.

As they handcuffed Dominguez, Deeks asked him, "Why were you so nice to July?" and the man could tell he really wanted to know the answer.

"My younger brother lived on the streets," he said sadly. "July reminded me of him."

As detectives walked him toward the door, he stopped and turned back towards Deeks.

"Why did you save my life?" he asked.

"Because you were kind to July," Deeks replied, "and that inherent kindness makes you worth saving."

Then Deeks gave him a big goofy grin and Dominguez couldn't help but smile and shake his head.

...


End file.
